Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a massive game full of potential for all kinds of players. Spearhead is a way to play fast yet tactical battles, while Matched Play and the General’s Handbook provide a framework for larger or more complex games and tournament play.
Every mode lets you tell great stories with your armies, but Path to Glory is for those who want to take that narrative one step further. It’s been completely reworked for the new edition, and we’ve got lots to show you.
Walking the Path to Glory
Since the first edition of Age of Sigmar, Path to Glory has given players the tools to create their own ongoing narrative as their army secures heroic victories, weathers crushing defeats, and grows in strength as its ranks swell and veterans earn new skills. In the current edition, the Path to Glory rules focus on empire-building, with rules for conquering territories and building outposts. This tied in to the overarching narrative of the edition, which saw the first Dawnbringer Crusades leave the Cities of Sigmar on a mission to reclaim the realms.
In the new edition, Path to Glory is returning to its roots in the Core Book with a Path to Glory: Ascension battlepack which focuses on your WARLORD and their retinue. These rules will string together their heroic battles, embellishing their personal story as they fight for victory and renown across the Mortal Realms.
Ranks and Paths
The key feature of the Path to Glory: Ascension battlepack is the Path each of your units choose to follow. As you fight battles in your campaign, your units – including all your Heroes, Monsters, and anything else – will gain ranks. There are four ranks to progress through as you earn renown for participating in battles:
When a unit gains its first rank, you can choose a Path for it to follow. There are six paths in total – four for your mighty HEROES, and two for every other unit. The Path of the Warrior transforms your leaders into combat monsters that can fight whole units and win, while troops who walk the Path of the Defender become immovable anvils that your enemy’s charges will break on
Each Path is composed of a branching set of abilities that a unit can acquire over the course of a campaign. Every time a unit gains a rank, you pick one ability from a choice of two to reflect the growing prowess of your warriors. The further along each Path a unit advances, the more tantalising these abilities become. PRIESTS on the Path of the Devout can become so favoured by their gods that they unlock the powerful Resurrection ability – a whole new level of divine protection.
One of the big new changes is that your WARLORD can now participate wholly with the Path to Glory system. Not only can your army’s general advance along a Path just like any other HERO, they also begin their campaign with the first rank already gained, meaning they’ll start off a little more powerful – as befitting their status – and will be interacting with the new Paths system right from the get-go.
Twists and Turns
Path to Glory: Ascension doesn’t use the Battle Tactics rules module, and instead provides six narrative battleplans, including returning favourites and brand new scenarios. In both cases the Warhammer Studio have made significant improvements to the battleplans that not only enhance the narrative of the battle, but also ensure nail-biting finishes to your games.
The driving force behind this dynamic is the inclusion of a Twist table on every battleplan, introducing dramatic and unpredictable shifts each battle round that leverage the new underdog mechanic to great effect. For example, The Ritual, a favourite of narrative players, returns with a Twist table that gives the underdog a number of ways to chip away at the winner’s lead.
Anvils of Apotheosis
As the battletomes of the new edition are released over the coming years, each will include its own set of Path to Glory rules. We’ll be going into more detail on these when that time comes, but we can confirm that each battletome will build on the Paths system by including unique Paths tailored to your faction, and each one will also include its very own unique Anvil of Apotheosis – a system for creating your own custom characters to use in Path to Glory games.
Next week, we’ll be revealing another model from the Warhammer Age of Sigmar launch set. We’re getting closer to the full reveal 16th of May in the US and the early hours of the 17th of May in the UK, and we’ve already covered many of the changes coming to the rules in the new edition of Age of Sigmar – make sure you’re primed by reading up on everything in the hub below.*
* An earlier version of this article listed the date as the 18th – that’s the date of the Mortal Realms Reforged Event at Warhammer World and the US Open in Dallas, TX, where you can see everything in person.